Demons in the Darkness
by JenFoxworth
Summary: Sonic, Shadow, and a few of the others have been abused into an experiment, and now they are so mutated that they dare not let themselves be seen by the humans. Will they ever be able to change back?


Section: Part 1  
Time: 5 years after Sonic Riders  
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega, second character design by  
the dark of the night, Demon Shadow awoke. He had been sleeping for quite some time, and when he had fallen into his slumber, he had not been the creature he was now. Days before, he had been a more normal hedgehog, even though he was still called the ultimate lifeform at the time.

Now, after having been attacked and injected with a strange serum, his DNA had changed. The poison had caused him to sleep for nearly a week as his body was transformed, filling his mind with nightmares and pain.

Rising to his feet, he hunched himself over as he scanned the horizon for enemies and prey. He could feel the hunger growing inside him, the urge to attack and allow his savage claws to rip apart another creature was strong.

And yet, he still had his memories, his memories of his past life, of Maria, the ARK, and his creator. Twitching his tail, he sniffed the wind and listened carefully. The past was irrelevant now, his instincts called for a victim, he thought, catching a scent on the wind. Ah, this was a weakling, and not too far off either. Demon Shadow pursued the smell, running on all fours like a beast.

The hedgehog beast came upon his prey, it was Tails the fox, as normal as ever. Slinking up silently, he crept up behind the small boy, who was glancing eastwardly in fear. Demon Shadow brought himself up on his hind legs, rising a clawed hand to strike Tails, licking the saliva dripping from his lips in anticipation of the taste of blood.

A twig snapped from the direction the fox was staring at, and a large blue monster leapt out, over the small fox and onto Demon Shadow. It was Sonic, for Shadow had not been the only one transformed. The blue hedgehog had been a beast longer than him though, and had slightly more control over his mind, but not much. He wouldn't harm Tails or his friends, but seeing the Demon Shadow had aroused his killing instincts once more.

Demon Sonic sank his fangs into his adversary's shoulder, and slashed with his own long claws. The black beast screeched in pain, then swiped at his attacker with the talons growing out of his ankles. They backed off from each other, circling and prowling. Shadow bared his teeth and snarled, his eyes burning with a blood-red anger from being denied his prey. Sonic stood in front of Tails, even now with his mind manipulated from the poison, he still remembered to protect him.

The tiny fox was clutching his two tails fearfully and trembling, then screamed when another creature came forth from the darkness. The crimson red Demon Knuckles moved over and stood by Sonic, grating his claws together and staring at Shadow. The black monstrosity backed farther away as the two began to advance on him, knowing that he couldn't fight both of them.

He bolted, trying to escape, but it was too late. They fell on him, slashing and ripping furiously, driving him to the ground and inflicting gaping wounds. For a flash moment, Shadow remembered his past again, the realization of what it truly meant sinking in as he felt his body dying. "Maria...!" he hissed, as he lost the last of his strength to fight back.

When Tails heard this, he realized that Shadow wasn't completely taken over, just like his friends. Without regard for his own safety, he charged in, trying to pull his murderous companions off of the corrupted hedgehog.

"SONIC! KNUCKLES! Stop! Please stop!!! Don't kill him, please!!!" he cried, trying to cover Shadow with himself in hopes that they would cease in fear of harming him. His plan worked, the two demons left off their attack, growling in confusion. The fox-boy looked at his friends. They had changed so much over the past month, sharp fangs, ripping talons, and over-grown spikes sprouting from their bodies to match their instincts.

Demon Knuckles let loose a rough bark, licking the blood that soaked his fur. Sonic did the same, but would glance menacingly at Tails from time to time. The orange fox turned back to Shadow, who was covered in his own blood and gasping with a raspy sound in his throat. His eyes moved from Tails, who was protecting him, back to the other two creatures that had tried to kill him. He was still alive, and even though his wounds were deep, he had defended himself well, and knew that he would live.

For a moment, he sniffed, the scent of the weak and frightened fox filling his nostrils again. Shadow enclosed his clawed hand around Tails neck, and he brought him close to his face. The fox closed his eyes as the beast's hot breath hit his face, and felt Shadow's fangs touch his throat. He whimpered as the sticky tongue touched him, as the creature pressed their bodies together in a crushing grasp. Sonic and Knuckles had wandered off, and they were no where in sight as Shadow trembled at the taste of the fox's flesh.

But suddenly, with his jaws tightly around his preys neck, with his claws curled around his victims body, he felt an emotion touch him. He took his teeth from around Tails throat, and his old mind resurfaced as he watched the small boy quiver and shake in terror in his arms. He released him, and the fox curled up on the ground, shaking and crying uncontrollably. Taking a claw and stroking Tails' ears softly, he murmured an apology.

"I... I... I couldn't... I'm sorry..." he said in the strange voice that was hard to believe was now his own, as guttural as it sounded. The fox fell asleep crying, and Shadow lay next to him, shocked at what he had become.

When he awoke again, it was light, and Tails was administering to his wounds. Both Sonic and Knuckles were sitting on their haunches nearby, watching with a fierce interest. For the first time, Shadow realized that with his body mutation, he had grown bigger, and was now about a third larger than that of the fox caring for him. Tails saw that he was awake and looked into his eyes. The black hedgehog turned his gaze, laying his head on the ground again, ashamed of himself.

"So, your mind's fully back I see. I've been tying to do it with them two, but every time that it seems I have them back, I just lose them again." the fox sighed, finishing up with the treatment. Shadow didn't say anything, nor did he avert his stare at the pebble in front of his nose. He had thought he had been an evil beast before, but what was he now? "I don't think that they will attack you now, even though they keep coming over here and drooling when they smell your wounds." Tails said, treating a slash on his own face that Shadow hadn't noticed before.

"I didn't... hurt you, did I?" he asked, pushing down his instincts that had risen at the sight of the foxes coagulated blood. The orange fox's ears drooped.

"No... This is what Sonic did when I first saw him... He came even closer to killing me than you did..." he said, new tears beginning to fall. Shadow sat up and attempted to help the poor fox. He knew that his friend wasn't suffering just from physical pain, but emotional pain as well. Tails sobbed and hugged the black hedgehog, regardless of his fearsome appearance. "H-he slashed my face and put his claws on my throat! Then he was choking me, he was so powerful that I couldn't breathe! Just as everything started to go black, I was able to pull him away for a moment, long enough to gasp out 'Sonic, please don't kill me!'. He resumed strangling me, but at the last second, as I could feel my mind closing, I stared into his eyes, and saw a brief flicker of his old self flash into them. He let me go, and has followed me around ever since! What's happened to you guys!?" the fox boy cried, as Shadow tried to pat him gently despite his sharp claws.

"What about Knuckles... How did he find you?" the black beast asked. "He just popped out of the ground not too long after I found Sonic, he didn't attack me, but I have a feeling that he's already done something horrible! He seemed to come back once, for just a couple minutes, and he just sat there staring into nothing, refusing to look at me." Tails said, wiping his eyes and letting go of Shadow, who was by now sitting up.

"I think I know what happened..." the dark creature muttered, and his friend looked at him curiously. "If the same holds true to them, then we've all been injected with a strong virus-like poison. It has changed our DNA structure, and caused us to mutate, and it's given us blood-thirsty predator instincts as well." He said, glancing at Sonic. The blue hedgehog had turned, and was looking at something, sniffing the air. He got up and slunk into the tall grass, disappearing from sight.

"This can't be good..." Shadow said as he followed him, leaving Tails alone with Demon Knuckles. Sonic's trail led him to a small dirt road, and he was no where in sight. But Amy was. The pink hedgehog was walking up the road, clutching a box of candy sweets and talking to herself.

"Oh, Sonic will love these, they're his favorite! I wish he would..." she had stopped, staring at the blue monstrosity that had jumped into the path in front of her. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed, turning and running in the direction she came. Shadow leapt out of his hiding place in front of her. She screamed again, looking back and forth at them both, and then she took out her piko piko hammer.

"Eggman's making experiments again!!!!!!!! STAY BACK, I'M WARNING YOU!!!" she yelled, swinging her weapon to ward them off.

"Amy! Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you!" Shadow said, standing with his hind legs bent. The girl stopped threatening them, gazing at him in shock.

"Shadow?!" she said, then gave a start as she felt Sonic come up to her. "And I don't think he will either, but I'm not sure..." Shadow said, watching as Sonic sniffed the pink hedgehog and touched her face with his wicked looking claws. "W-wha... What's going on?!" she asked, the blue monster stood beside her, running a claw along her arm.

"Well..." Shadow began, but was suddenly interrupted by Sonic.

"... Oh... my...AMY?!...What... I... Shadow?!" the blue demonized hedgehog sputtered, his mind brought back by Amy's familiarity.

"I'll explain later, I left Tails alone with Knuckles, and I don't think he's safe..." the black creature said, leading them both to the spot where he had left the two.

"Shadow! Knuckles is back! I showed him an emerald and he just kind of stared at it and started talking! ...Amy? What are you... Sonic?!" Tails said, as he saw Sonic look away from him with tears in his eyes.

"Sonic's back too, Tails... I'll let you explain..." Shadow said, sliding into the bushes unnoticed as they gathered around Sonic and Knuckles, trying to console them for their actions.

Later, when he returned, Tails and Knuckles were sitting on the ground, trying to figure out who had done this. Shadow sat next to them, in a position so that his spikes and talons wouldn't get in his way. "Where's Sonic and Amy?" he asked, trying to sound casual. Knuckles looked at him with his same stubborn eyes that he used to have before he had changed.

"Don't know. They left a while ago, Sonic hasn't been talking much. Hasn't said a word to me or Tails. He won't even look at Tails." The monstrous echidna said, his long tail flicking at the air.

"Yeah..." the orange fox sighed sadly. "Even if we could find out who did this, how would we get near enough without being noticed? The police would pounce on us in seconds!" Knuckles said, trying to change the subject. Tails looked up at him suspiciously.

"What do you mean?!" he asked, blinking. The echidna looked away, staring at the hooked claws coming out of his hands.

"I don't want to talk about it..." he said, then refused to say anything more.

A bit farther off, out of hearing distance, Sonic and Amy sat by a stream, the blue demon-looking hedgehog staring into the water at his reflection. "I can't believe I... I nearly killed him...!" he said, covering his face with his clawed hands. Amy was sitting next to him, her eyes filled with sympathy.

"Sonic, you didn't know what you were doing, it's going to be all right!" she said, bringing herself nearer to him. He turned and looked at her, and then said something shocking.

"Amy, I really do love you..." Her eyes widened with suprise, then with joy.

"Oh, Sonic! I knew all along!" the pink hedgehog said happily. The blue being turned and looked at the stream again, even sadder than before.

"I don't suppose you want me now that I look like this..." Sonic muttered. Amy put her hand under his chin and lifted it so that their eyes met.

"I will always love you, no matter what you look like!" she said, and then pressed her lips to his. He trembled, then put his arms around her, touching her back with his claws gently as for the first time, he kissed her back. The girl climbed onto his lap, kissing him passionately. Sonic closed his eyes as she tried to comfort him with it, knowing that things would never be the same again


End file.
